Who has given up booz and why?

[AndyLate]

I basically stopped drinking about 20 years ago when I was in my 30s. One More Time described my experience with alcohol perfectly - "I had a tendency to keep on rolling and like it a bit to much." I never had any problems from drinking, just rarely drank without getting drunk.

I still enjoy a single quality beer after an exceptionally hot day. Nothing like a glass of cold liquid bread to cool off and quench the thirst but I don't keep it in the house. Probably 6 beers in as many years.

Andy

[yoni]

I saw a video of Andrew Huberman that showed the effect of even 1 drink on the brain. So that pushed me to if not stop then darn near stop like 3 months ago. Then we had the holiday Purim which involves drinking, so I had about 4 to 6 shots of good rum. Then this week Passover, so I had 4 glasses of wine during the Sedar.

I also don't smoke cigars like I used to.

NOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW, having said all that, I tend to drink more when I am working outside of Israel or the USA. Then have a cigar at night with the drinks.

So we will see soon if I change my overseas behavior. I will say I really have not noticed a difference, I think it is because I was not drinking that much any more.

[utahjeepr]

I have throttle control issues with booze. It's my self medication of choice, and that ain't good. I've done some really stupid shit on benders. I've taken "time off" from drinking many times.

At this point I can have a drink or two socially, or maybe the odd drink in the evening. If I get to drinking more than that it's time to take a break.

[WillBrink]

I have throttle control issues with booze. It's my self medication of choice, and that ain't good. I've done some really stupid shit on benders. I've taken "time off" from drinking many times.

At this point I can have a drink or two socially, or maybe the odd drink in the evening. If I get to drinking more than that it's time to take a break.

I'd say a large % of bad decisions and regretful experiences involved booze.

[1168]

I saw a video of Andrew Huberman that showed the effect of even 1 drink on the brain.

Maybe 15 years ago, I was reading about the dose-dependent effects of alcohol, and what I was seeing suggested that fine motor skills, inhibition, and judgement were degraded at a very low dose. So, as someone that is skeptical about basically everything, I had to do an experiment.

I had a computer game that was a first person shooter with vehicles. It wasn’t designed for helos, but someone made a mod. The mouse is cyclic and the keys are collective, and it was fairly twitchy, requiring attention and frequent small inputs. The matches against AI Infantry bots was time, not goal based. So after 20 minutes or whatever, the match would end and a variety of stats, such as kills and kill/death ratio and kills/time were displayed. It was a capture-the-flag style game, so if using the helo, hovering stable against the deck was important, but delicate. Anyway, that game seemed like an easy test of the hypothesis. Over a couple of weeks, I played that game a few times sober, and a few times while drinking whiskey or beer, starting sober, and playing a round per drink and recording the results. What was found was a consistent, precipitous, and reproducible degradation of my ability to play that game (I’m pretty bad at videogames in general, and not a frequent user of games) at two drinks. It was noticeable, even before looking at the stats. I was still beating the AI simply because it was rather rudimentary, but the number of tasks that I could successfully execute (kills, capturing/recapturing flags) per time slot dropped quite a bit, and crashes went from 0-1, to several per time slot, and hit/miss ratio dropped.

Its a dumb experiment, but it has stuck with me, and I’ve noticed that with sufficient scrutiny (shot timer, for example), alcohol always degrades most skills and brainwork as quickly or more quickly than onset of euphoria/anxiolysis/whatever. Much like cannabis, that shit is not a performance-enhancing drug, unless you are trying to self-medicate premature ejaculation.

[TBAR_94]

I quit in early 2020, the whole lock down thing had me drinking way too much and I sensed it was becoming an issue. I have done some dumb stuff drinking but generally wrote it off as “blowing off steam,” or “normal aircrew shenanigans.” After taking 2 years of I let myself have a drink a few times a year in social situations where it makes sense.

[joedirt199]

I have no problem having a beer on occasion. Tastes too dang good sometimes. Been a while since I tied one on real good and felt like poop the next day. Now days I am more comfortable having a beer or two at home on the couch watching tv with the family.

[Budget]

I give it up for Lent usually. I honestly notice a huge difference when I'm drinking and not. Better sleep, fast weight loss, all the things. A couple horrible bosses have driven me to the edge but I start a new job Monday and will take time away from the bottle for a while.

I have found working on a new hobby really takes me away from booze and work stress.

[33XRAY]

I hate my job, and I'd rather drink some booze, than feel anxiety about having to be there. People are egocentric drama queens, and my coworkers ride my coat tails. The people in charge could care less as long as the job gets done. I had my first evaluation it was shitty. Fool me once. At my next one I'll print out my email traffic, and prove I solely supervise, and vigilantly investigate progresses, and act to save operations. I could care less if anyone knows its simple incompetency I deal with, and a waste of my time to care about. I really don't entertain anyone at all over there, and I never laugh at any of their bad jokes. With all the motivation to drink I don't like I used to. Like a 1/5th in days/day, or a 12 pack. I enjoy my personal life, and booze ruins some of it. I don't think I'll ever stop totally because I love music and drinking. Nothing better than pounding some beers and hearing a good song. Tonight I may not drink because I want to enjoy my day off tomorrow.

[Coal Dragger]

I can take or leave booze, it’s not a big priority for me. I maintain a strict self imposed 2 drink limit no matter the situation these days, not because I can’t stop, but because anything in excess of 2 drinks gives me a headache and cotton mouth the next day and I don’t have the patience for that shit.

I reduce that to 1 drink if it is hard alcohol like bourbon, Scotch, or a whiskey cocktail like an old fashioned which I am more fond of than beer or wine. Given a choice, a nice Scotch with a sprig of cool water sipped slowly and enjoyed is my preference.

I avoid all other mixed drinks entirely because if the alcohol is so heinous that the flavor needs to be disguised then I don’t want it. So tequila, rum, gin, and vodka are on my do not drink list.